This invention relates in general to restorative dentistry, and more particularly to methods and means for fixing a permanent dental restoration to an underlying support such as a dental implant fixture or the like. The invention provides for the fabrication and use of fixed restorations in partially edentulous patients undergoing treatment with osseointegrated fixtures.
While the field of restorative dentistry has made significant advances in the use of dental implants to support dental restorations intended to replace natural teeth, and intended for long-lasting use, there remains a need to provide simple, reliable, cosmetically-attractive permanent single-tooth restorations supported on a dental implant fixture. A dental bridge supported on two or more abutments is not subjected to forces that would induce it to rotate around an abutment, but a single-tooth restoration can rotate, or pivot, around its underlying support. Consequently, practitioners of restorative dentistry even now find it advisable, even necessary, to attach a single-tooth restoration to an adjacent tooth in order to prevent such rotating or pivoting.
A single-tooth restoration presents unique problems when it is supported on an implanted fixture. Such fixtures in common use are generally around 4 mm. in diameter. Even after succsessful osseointegration a platform that is about 4 mm. in diameter provides a small bearing surface on which to support an artificial tooth. The danger that screws or pins used to attach the restoration to the implant fixture will break or bend in use in ever-present. It is among the purposes of this invention to reduce or eliminate this danger, as well as to provide a single-tooth restoration that can be non-rotatively fixed on a dental implant fixture without requiring support from an adjacent tooth or abutment, will be simple to fabricate, reliable in use, and cosmetically pleasing.